May and June have seen the worst of Hong Kong's landslides over the years. In this week's guest post, T.C. Lee, K.Y. Ma and C.M. Shun describe the worst of them all:
With a hilly terrain, Hong Kong is prone to the hazards of landslides during rainstorms, in particular for steep slopes in developed areas. Over the years, there were severe rainstorm events in Hong Kong that triggered disastrous landslides and resulted in heavy loss of lives. Apart from the notorious landslide events in 1966 [1] and 1972 [2], another catastrophic incident in the early part of Hong Kong history occurred in 1925 at Po Hing Fong, a quiet and luxurious residential area in the mid-levels near Caine Road on Hong Kong Island.
At round 9 a.m. on 17 July 1925, the retaining wall of In Mi Lane [3] which was beneath Caine Road collapsed after days of heavy rain. Large amount of debris ran down to Po Hing Fong and swept away seven four-storey houses from No. 12 to No. 16 (see Figures 1 and 2) with some thirty families inside, causing 75 deaths in this tragic event [4].
Figure 1: A rough sketch of the street map around Po Hing Fong in the 1920s.
Figure 2: Workers clearing away the debris of the collapsed retaining wall
and houses at Po Hing Fong in July 1925 (photo courtesy of Mr C M Shun).
The victims of this incident were all <Read more ...>
